The sound inside the arena didn’t come only from the loudspeakers. It vibrated through the floor, the seats, the chest of every person present. A sea of lights moved in waves, following the rhythm of screams, clapping, and collective adrenaline.

  Julia didn’t blink.

  Her fingers moved fast, precise, almost without conscious thought. The world had shrunk to that screen. Aim. Movement. Timing. Nothing else existed.

  The last opponent appeared in the open field for a fraction of a second longer than they should have.

  That was enough.

  The shot rang out, dry and sharp. The image froze. The enemy avatar fell. The screen colors shifted abruptly.

  VICTORY.

  For an instant, there was no sound.

  Then the arena exploded.

  “JULIA! JULIA! JULIA!”

  She removed the headset slowly, as if her body were still trapped inside the game. Her heart hammered out of control. Sweat ran down the side of her face, mixing with the pink sheen of her short hair stuck to her forehead.

  She had won.

  When she stood up, her legs trembled. An assistant placed the trophy in her hands. The metal was cold, heavy, far too real. The lights hit her head-on, blinding her for a second.

  Julia raised the trophy.

  The roar of the crowd grew even louder.

  People shoved against the railings. Arms stretched out desperately, trying to touch her, as if that mattered more than breathing. Her name was repeated endlessly, almost like a mantra.

  She smiled.

  A trained smile. Automatic. The kind that didn’t require her to feel anything.

  Then something changed.

  The pushing turned into screams. A different scream. High-pitched. Afraid.

  A metallic flash cut through the crowd.

  A knife.

  A young man lunged forward without thinking, shoving anyone in his way. The blade came down, striking someone nearby. Blood stained the arena’s pale floor.

  Everything became chaos.

  Screams of terror replaced screams of admiration.

  Julia’s smile vanished.

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  The world became real again.

  “Get her out of here!” someone shouted.

  Two security guards appeared instantly, grabbed Julia by the arms, and dragged her away. She tried to look back, but it was already too late. Doors slammed shut. The noise of the arena was swallowed by the silence of the inner corridors.

  The black car sped off before she could even catch her breath.

  Inside, everything felt too big. Too luxurious. Too empty.

  Julia stared at her reflection in the dark window. The champion. The best in the world. The face everyone wanted to see.

  And yet… nothing.

  “Congratulations, Miss Julia,” said the butler in the front seat, his voice restrained. “The whole world is talking about you.”

  She didn’t answer.

  City lights blurred past outside. She felt as if she were watching someone else’s life.

  The house was lit when they arrived.

  “SURPRISE!”

  Her family burst from the living room, smiling, applauding, emotional. Julia’s eyes widened. The shock was instant. Her chest tightened. The emptiness retreated, even if only for a moment.

  She ran forward and hugged them tightly.

  Laughter. Photos. Music. A small improvised cake. For a few moments, Julia was just a daughter. A granddaughter. An ordinary person.

  But time passed.

  And when she locked herself in her room, the silence returned like an old acquaintance.

  She sat on the bed, staring at the dark ceiling. Her heart no longer raced. The euphoria had evaporated.

  “Is that all…?” she murmured.

  Since childhood, games had never been just entertainment. They were refuge. Worlds where everything made sense. Where there were monsters, wars, guilds. Where strength came from effort, not fame.

  Her phone vibrated.

  Anonymous message.

  “The game that will change your understanding of reality begins in 30 minutes.”

  Julia read it once.

  Then again.

  The screen automatically displayed a countdown.

  00:29:59

  She didn’t smile.

  But for the first time that night, her eyes shone.

  Julia’s room was drowned in half-light.

  The only illumination came from the phone screen, reflected in her focused eyes. The countdown advanced mercilessly, each second feeling louder than the last, even without making a sound.

  00:12:18

  She took a deep breath. Her heart beat in a strange rhythm — not frantic like in the arena, but steady, resolute. It wasn’t anxiety.

  It was anticipation.

  The emptiness inside her seemed… attentive.

  The screen flickered slightly.

  For a moment, Julia thought she had imagined it. Then she felt something different. A tingling in her fingers. Not pain. Not heat. Just the sense that the air around her had changed density.

  The phone vibrated violently.

  White light exploded.

  There was no time to scream.

  Julia’s body began to break apart into fine particles, like luminous dust being violently pulled into the screen. The room remained intact. The bed, the furniture — everything stayed in place.

  Within seconds, there was no one left.

  Only the phone, fallen onto the mattress, its screen now completely black.

  On the other side of the world, rain tapped softly against the window of a small, messy room.

  A black-haired young man sat on the floor, leaning against the wall. His face was swollen, covered in old and fresh bruises. A poorly healed cut ran across his eyebrow.

  He held a photograph with trembling hands.

  A smiling woman. A girl hugging her.

  The past came back like a punch.

  “Kuto, what have you done?!” his mother’s voice echoed in his mind, desperate.

  “Help me, brother!” his sister’s crying tore through the memory.

  He squeezed his eyes shut.

  “If I must become a devil…” he murmured hoarsely. “…then I will.”

  He opened his eyes.

  Picked up the phone from the floor.

  The interface was far too simple for something so absurd.

  Reward: 1,000,000,000 USD

  Start in: 00:00:10

  The countdown began.

  10… 9…

  He didn’t look away.

  8… 7…

  His fingers tightened around the device.

  6… 5…

  The rain outside felt distant.

  4… 3…

  The world held its breath.

  2… 1…

  Zero.

  The screen turned white.

  The room vanished.

  The young man was pulled away completely, as if he had never existed there. No sound. No trace.

  At the hospital, the smell of antiseptic filled the air.

  Steve sat beside the bed, holding his mother’s hand carefully, as if she might shatter. His face still bore the fresh marks of the day’s violence. The swollen eye. The split lip.

  But he wasn’t thinking about that.

  The phone vibrated softly in his other hand.

  00:00:15

  He swallowed hard.

  “It’s going to be okay…” he whispered, more to himself than to her.

  His mother breathed with difficulty, unconscious.

  00:00:10

  Steve closed his eyes for a second.

  00:00:05

  He opened them again.

  The screen glowed brighter than before.

  “No… not now…” he murmured, feeling something tug at his body from the inside.

  White light exploded.

  His arm started to break apart first. Tiny digital particles peeled away from his skin, being sucked into the phone like dust caught in the wind.

  “HELP!” Steve shouted, his voice cracking.

  It didn’t hurt.

  It didn’t burn.

  It was worse.

  It felt like he was being erased.

  “MOM!” he screamed again, trying to hold her hand, but his fingers no longer responded.

  His chest dissolved. His legs vanished. The world drifted away.

  The last sound was his own scream echoing into nothingness.

  Then… nothing.

  The phone fell onto the bed.

  At that exact moment, the door to the room opened.

  “What was that noise just now…?” a nurse muttered irritably.

  She looked around.

  The bed was empty.

  “What the hell…?” she whispered.

  She left the room, shaking her head, unaware that at that exact moment, thousands of people around the world had vanished.

  And that the game… had begun.